Last month, I asked God for a word for the remainder of the Race and immediately He said “Soak.” I believe the Lord desires for me to immerse myself completely in Him – soaking in the Bible, the presence of the Holy Spirit, His people, and the opportunities He puts before me. He is not requesting dipping into the water but going all in and soaking in it. I imagine that I’m in a swimming pool and during the World Race I went from the 3 foot area into the 5 foot area. I started off in the area of the pool that is the safest, shallowest, and most crowded. It’s where the parents hold hands with their children. It’s where hesitant people slowly move forward inch by inch to get used to the cold water. Then throughout my World Race journey, I entered into the 5 foot deep area of the pool. In this section, there is more freedom to actually swim around, do fun things like handstands, and kids can wave at their watching parents. It’s more risky than the shallow end and you need to be sure you can swim; yet there’s still comfort knowing that you can stand on your tiptoes on the pool floor and be dry from the neck up, not having your head submerged.
In a few weeks, the World Race is coming to an end but I’m only just now swimming over into the 9 foot deep section of the pool and I have no intention of turning back. This is the part of the pool that the confident, adventurous, and experienced swimmers go to. They can float on their backs when they get tired of swimming but don’t want to actually get out of the pool. They boldly jump off the diving board, trusting that it will hold their weight, touch the bottom of the pool where few people are, and have faith that they’ll swim back up to the surface – so that they can do it all over again.
This is the part of the pool that I’m desiring to stay in. God has provided me with such joy, trust, passion, love, and endurance these past 10 months on the Race so why turn back now? The World Race doesn’t have to be my adventure of a lifetime for Jesus, but part of my lifetime of adventure with Jesus! Practically, I do not know what this looks like but am searching the Lord’s guidance for what my next season of life will be. Currently, I’m leaning towards attending G42, which is a 9-month leadership and discipleship program in Spain, because I’m seeking to be poured into, refined, discover how I can use my passions and gifts to further the Kingdom in a long term sense, and just fall deeper in love with the Lord and His mission to be known worldwide. I want to soak in the 9 foot deep part of the pool!
A quote from Bob Goff says, “God often waits until we’re out of ideas before He lets us know His plans.” Well. I’m at the point where I am blindly walking out in faith, even though I can only see one or two steps ahead of me right now. No, I don’t have a practical plan of what I’ll be doing when I get back to the States. No, I don’t have a career I’m striving after. But what I DO have is an open, obedient, willingness to embrace whatever crazy-sounding, God-given ideas and dreams that the Lord hands me. He’s already revealed His plan for our lives: to love Him wholeheartedly, to obey His Word, and to go. (Recently, I’ve been circling in my Bible every time I read the command “go” and I’m gonna be running out of ink in my pen soon!)
My options are open to almost anything right now though so please pray for direction and discernment. Thank you, each and every one of you supporters, for your encouragement, thoughts, and prayers. As this chapter of life comes to a close, I’m eager and expectant for the next one to begin!
